12 Meeting the Great Hero of Japan, Ryouma Kurogane

The three of them arrived at the Ryouma's cabin in the forest.

"This cabin must be convenient to call a safe house," Otto said.

"Hahaha- it's just a house that I made, way back in the day." Ryouma laughed dryly reminiscing in his younger days as he patted the sleeping Ikki's head.

"What about you boy, what are you doing alone in the snow? Did you run away from the house too?" Ryouma asked.

"I didn't run away. I'm just wandering, trying to find my way to civilization." He replied as he didn't know he was banished from the village. But couldn't care less about it.

"During winter?" Ryouma sounds surprised as Otto doesn't seem to be affected by the cold in the slightest.

"Yeah." Otto sighed as he didn't expect the snow to be so strong.

"You must be pretty strong, kid." He smiled at him.

"You think so too? Well, I'm honored that The great hero Ryouma Kurogane recognized me as a strong person."

"Haaah- a slight correction there boy, I'm just Ryouma now..." He sighed as he looked out the window while preparing some tea.

"Why?"

"Me and my son, who used to be the head of the Kurogane family had a conflict. Which caused me to be exiled from my household because my ideology differed from the Kurogane Family's original code." He replied.

"Are you angry at them?" Otto asked him who doesn't seem to have resentment at them.

"No." He smiled before looking at Ikki.

"Because of that, I got the opportunity to see my great-grandson."

"You seem to dote on him a lot. What's his story on why he's in the middle of the winter?" Otto asked.

"I had heard that he had run away from the Kurogane's manor so I who was worried, looked for him and eventually met you."

"Do you know any swordsmanship old man?" Otto shifted the subject and asked a stupid question, as he knew the old man was someone who was a famous blazer in Japan.

"Well, I am... But I'm retired now." He said as he offered tea to Otto.

"Could you perhaps teach me? I want to be a strong swordsman." Otto wants to use this opportunity to learn sword art from someone who is the best and wants to fight him as well.

"I could but I don't think you'll be impressed by my teaching skills." He started to act humble again.

"I don't mind. Just show me." He was confident that he could copy Ryouma's movements after watching his performance because for him it was just like another 'Let me copy your assignment' scenario.

"Alright..." The two went outside in the middle of winter.

Ryouma picked out a stick he had found in the forest.

"I'll only do this once boy," Ryouma stated as he inhaled deeply.

"Gou no Kiwami - Honoikazuchi." He said calmly, as he did a simple diagonal slash before he followed it up with a punch. Which caused a small Shockwave towards Otto's direction.

"..." Otto was surprised as to how this dying old man could perform these techniques when he only had a few days left.

"Jin no Kiwami - Amaterasu." Ryouma's movements were very quick this time as he had the precision of cutting the snow around him. Similar to Otto's 'One Mind' technique.

"The last technique I'll show you is taught by the Kurogane Household, watch carefully." Ryouma wasn't sure if Otto could see the next technique he was going to perform, as this is the Kurogane's secret art.

"Retsu no Kiwami - Amatsukaze." The old man released a continuous amount of slashes around Otto, whose speed was similar to the previous technique, but lasted even longer as its purpose was to overwhelm the opponent's defense.

"Hooooo-" The old man let out a heavy breath after performing it.

"I'm getting too old for this..." Ryouma sighed. "So did you see it?"

"I did..." Otto saw it but wasn't sure if he could replicate the way he does and believed he lacked something.

"Good. Oh and by the way, have you manifested your device?" Ryouma asked him.

"Not that I have tried." Otto wasn't sure if his authority was the embodiment of his device as a blazer.

"What? Didn't you say you wanted to be a strong blazer? Or did I misheard you?" The old man picked his ears.

A device is a weapon manifested from the person's soul. Isn't Murasame, Brynhildr, and Blade of Tathagata essentially that? They are merged in my soul? After all, I can call upon them whenever I like.

"Oh, I do in fact," Otto said as the Blade of Tathagata popped out from his right hand.

"That's..." Ryouma felt weird after Otto bought the sword, as it was like Otto had taken thousands of lives. But knows that wasn't the case.

"Where did you get it?" He asked curiously as there was no way Otto could naturally manifest it using his soul. And thought that it was just a medium for his abilities.

"I got it from a certain place... Since it was just stuck in the ground, I pulled it out." Having no choice he confessed as it wasn't a big deal.

"Is that so?" He sighed in relief as his guess was right.

"It seems like you made that sword as your medium. Right?"

"How do you do it?" Otto had no idea.

"Seriously? Who even told you about blazers? Or did you just hear it from someone?" He looked skeptical as the two went back inside the cabin.

"Yup, I just heard it from someone." Hearing his immediate reply, made the old man face palm before laughing.

"Come and hold your sword up," Ryouma said, as Otto followed his instructions.

"Now let your magic powers flow inside the sword... Simple right?" He stated that he knew that Otto could at least do that. But what happened next made his mouth agape in surprise.

Otto was releasing his unique magic which was the purest magic that Ryouma had ever seen in his lifetime.

It was messy but sharp. It was the highest quality he'd witnessed, the only thing that Otto was missing was to refine all that pure magic in him. After that should be possible for him to be the first person who would get an 'S' rating on their, Attack Power, Defense Power, Mana Quality, Mana Control, and Physical Ability, as for luck that would solely depend on the user...

"Did I do it right, old man?" After he had finished infusing his Blade of Tathagata with his magic power. The katana glowed in scarlet red.

"Did someone teach you how to control your magic?" Ryouma asked.

"No. I learned it by myself after getting a glimpse of someone who used it."

'Just from seeing someone who used it... What kind of person would he grow in the future? A strong and kind person? Or a bloodthirsty person who kills just to be at the top? Shame I couldn't live that long to see it.' Ryouma thought while looking at Otto who was inspecting his Katana.

"Boy, why do you fight?"

"To become the strongest," Otto replied.

"Why? You're already strong for your age."

"It's not enough... Well, I don't know how strong I am. I feel like I am really strong... But at the same time, I feel like there are plenty of other stronger people than me. It's like climbing a mountain and making it to the top only to find out that there were also higher mountains that are higher than the one I had climbed... So I'll defeat them and find other even stronger individuals." Otto replied because so far he had been only relying on his 'Code: Unknown' and just the brute strength of all of his opponents to beat them. It was like playing a fighting game, and just spam whatever buttons he could press...

He had no art in his swordsmanship... Maybe that's what he had been lacking, the reason why he couldn't replicate Ryouma's art perfectly.

"So you're going to kill people to achieve that?" Ryouma asked.

"Death is defeat isn't it?" Otto wanted to sound reasonable, even if it was morally wrong to kill people.

"Don't you fear that you'll be killed too?"

"I don't fear death, nor would I let death stop me from reaching my goals." Otto wasn't afraid of death, because he didn't have to fear anything.

"So you haven't experienced fear?" He asked.

"No. I know full well what fear is." He couldn't count how many times he had died in the past and wanted to run away from it. But now that feels invincible, the only thing left he wants is to become strong.

"Then what about the people that fear death, that you'll be killing?"

"What about them?" Otto couldn't care less about them, since they'd fought and he won in the end.

Ryouma sighed at his answer. "So you're going to be an Asura?"

"If that's what it takes to be at the top, then yes," Otto said resolutely as he didn't want to be someone below and lose to a nobody.

"If you continue to think like that, you will gradually feel like you're weaker..." Ryouma looked away.

"Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because back then, I also think like you do. Only to realize later on that everything I had done was nothing but create an infinite cycle."

"Like violence breeds violence?" Otto asked as Ryouma nodded.

"Are you telling me to be kind to my opponent?" He views that gesture as a dishonor to the other person because he believes that going all out is showing respect.

"Yes... However, it is not right for me to teach you that only by experiencing it by yourself, that you will truly learn from it. Take this as my advice boy: A victory for having to kill an opponent who you don't even hate doesn't make any sense. Only wild beasts would think that."

"..." Otto thought for a moment. Was killing the succubus right? He didn't harbor any hate towards her, but she showed malicious ulterior motives towards him, so he killed her...

And what about Budo? Did he deserve to die too? His intention was only to demonstrate, not to kill him.

Did his morality go astray after reincarnating, that the power he gained blinded his sense of what's right and wrong?

Will he even change after this? Or would he be the same?

Seeing that Otto was deep in thought, the old man left him alone to think and figure it out by himself. Whether he changes or not, is up to him to decide.

...

-Chapter End-